My local fishwrap ran the follwing editorial.
September 28, 2003
Accepting gays in the church
I'm proud of the tolerance shown by Episcopalians with the appointment of an openly gay bishop.
As a newcomer to the Episcopal Church almost two years ago, I believed I had found a faith that was welcoming, non-judgmental and inclusive.
Those were qualities that fit with what I believed a religion should offer and traits I wanted to pass on to my children. They were qualities that I have seen in people from all backgrounds and faiths but had not experienced fully in an organized religious setting.
The Aug. 5 confirmation of the first openly gay bishop in the church's history, Gene Robinson, made me proud to be Episcopalian. I saw the move as a further indication of this religion's progression and its embracing of all people. Robinson, a divorced father of two, has been in a committed homosexual relationship for more than a dozen years - longer than many heterosexual marriages I know.
But, as expected, the decision was not applauded by all, and opponents warned that the appointment of an openly gay man could split the 2.3-million-member U.S. church. Evidence of that split was apparent Tuesday night at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Corpus Christi, where area Episcopalians met to hear from the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas, James Folts. And while the Episcopal church is in the spotlight on this issue now, it is a debate that crosses denominations.
Folts spoke for about an hour Tuesday, explaining that he opposed the confirmation not because of Robinson's sexual orientation but because of his "lifestyle behavior choices. . . . I do not believe (Robinson) is a wholesome example to the flock of Jesus Christ."
Folts then took questions from the more than 350 people in the audience, some of whom apparently had formed their own opinions based on some incorrect information. One man asked how the church could possibly ordain a man who had abandoned his wife and children to live with another man. In fact, the split between Robinson and his wife had been amicable and occurred almost two years before he met his partner, Mark Andrew.
Just days before the hearing about his election last month in Minneapolis, Robinson answered very personal questions in a public meeting. He debunked the misinformation that he had left his family to join a male lover.
"Over a period of years, my wife and I came to believe that I needed to claim who I was as a gay man," Christianity Today reported Robinson as saying. "I didn't meet Mark (Andrew) until two months after my ex-wife remarried."
Robinson had told his ex-wife before they married that his relationships had been with men, Christianity Today reported, and he tried to live as a heterosexual, including fathering two daughters.
One of Robinson's daughters attended the meeting in August, and she distributed a statement from her mother, Isabella McDaniel, in support of Robinson.
"It is my most sincere hope that my former husband, Gene Robinson, receives the consent of the people of this General Convention," McDaniel wrote. "He is strong and smart. He firmly believes in God and the importance of organized religion for today's people.
"Gene Robinson is a good man, a good priest, a good husband and partner, and a good father. I am proud to have been married to him," McDaniel added. "I am proud to have him as the father of my daughters. I am proud to be associated with him. Mostly, I will be proud to have him be the bishop here in New Hampshire and in the Episcopal Church."
Others aren't so proud.
In comments after the vote in Minneapolis, Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, Pa., spoke for those opposed to Robinson's approval, saying they were "filled with sorrow" and feel a "grief too deep for words."
"This body has denied the plain teaching of Scripture and the moral consensus of the church throughout the ages," Duncan was quoted by CNN.com. "This body has divided itself from millions of Anglican Christians throughout the world.
"May God have mercy on his church."
Former Corpus Christi resident the Rev. Katherine "Kitty" Megee Lehman, who is one of 12 potential nominees for bishop coadjutor in the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas and whose father was assistant rector of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, offered her thoughts on the subject in this way:
"It's worth remembering that the Ten Commandments, so much in the news recently, address the heterosexual transgression of adultery and the male heterosexual transgression of coveting a neighbor's wife or slave, both then presumed to be sexual property, a view most of us find abhorrent today," Lehman said in a written statement posted on the diocese's website.
"It's also worth remembering the great commandment and summary of the law by Jesus in the gospels: Love God above all and neighbor as self."
Following Tuesday's meeting at St. Bartholomew's, 15-year-old Elizabeth Ruth put it even more simply for Caller-Times religion writer Venessa Santos-Garza:
"Isn't loving God enough?"
Libby Averyt can be reached at 886-3681 or by e-mail at averytl@ caller.com.
